Punch and die assemblies used in high production stamping and forming operations must be periodically taken out of service and inspected for general wear or damage. This may be accomplished in either of two general ways. The punch and die tooling may be disassembled from the die shoes and individually inspected on a surface plate using standard tool room instruments, or the entire die shoe assemblies may be removed from the press and set up in an inspection machine side by side and optically scanned to perform the necessary measurements. The first method requires a significant amount of time to disassemble and then reassemble the parts while the second method requires a considerable capital investment in the inspection machine. The length of time that the tool is out of service has an adverse economic impact on the overall profitability of the operation, so it is desirable to minimize such unproductive time. What is needed is an inspection tool and method of use that does not require disassembly of the die shoe assemblies yet can be used to accurately position the assemblies on a reference surface for inspection using standard tool room instruments.